Cape Dresses - Where's the Cape?

[Grace]

I'm also puzzled by how dressing exactly like every other women in your entire church from the top of your head to the tips of your toes can be considered "non-conformity". It seems to be the exact opposite of that. Non-conformity seems to be the antithesis of much of CA life where the prevailing message seems to be that the "nail that stands out get hammered down"

The "non-conformity" aspect is about "not being conformed to the world", but being conformed to Christ and the church.

Many Conservative Anabaptist view their dress code as a "uniform" identifying them as Christians. There are many factions in society where a dress code is an identifying factor. I see little children and teens walking to school in Lancaster. If the children are wearing beige trousers, and white or light blue collared shirts, I know they are attending the Lancaster District Schools. If we see men or women in military uniforms, we can identify if they are in the Army, Navy, etc. Walking through an airport we always know who the pilots are, according to their dress. When your daughter wears her modest baggy clothes, no one will identify her as a Christian, because that is common with what everyone else wears, Christian and non-Christian. Although I am not 100% in agreement with some of the stringent dress codes within the Conservative Anabaptist realm, having a "uniform" dress code within a Christian community does identify people with being a Christian and Anabaptist.

[Neto]

I don't think that Menno ever commented on it (if so, I do not recall reading it, and I have read the entire Complete Writings of M.S.), but I have read elsewhere that the early Dutch "baptism-minded" Christians avoided dressing in the "high styles" of the time, to avoid class distinctions within the congregation. (This pertains to both men & women. My impression is that wealthy Dutch men had quite fancy clothing available to them, like the English "dandies".)

[mercysfree]

[quote=Bootstrap post_id=177715 time=1672529282

Are there patterns for these dresses online that would show how the cape is sewn on?
[/quote]

I'm not aware of any online patterns, but Christian Light Education makes a Home Ec course that teaches how to make a cape dress pattern and sew the dress, and Friends Patterns has patterns for a cape dress; both of these companies can be ordered from online.

To describe the construction in short form, the cape as pictured in the green dress the young woman is wearing early in the thread is much like mine, attached at the neck like a facing, but on the outside, and then sewn in at the waist. This leaves the sides free to blur the shape of the bust a bit. Zippers can be placed in the cape front to nurse discreetly.

I plan to start a new dress soon. I may take pictures of the construction as I go along for the curious and adventurous, but nonCA, seamstresses among our readership---if there is an interest.

[Bootstrap]

I'm not aware of any online patterns, but Christian Light Education makes a Home Ec course that teaches how to make a cape dress pattern and sew the dress, and Friends Patterns has patterns for a cape dress; both of these companies can be ordered from online.

To describe the construction in short form, the cape as pictured in the green dress the young woman is wearing early in the thread is much like mine, attached at the neck like a facing, but on the outside, and then sewn in at the waist. This leaves the sides free to blur the shape of the bust a bit. Zippers can be placed in the cape front to nurse discreetly.

I plan to start a new dress soon. I may take pictures of the construction as I go along for the curious and adventurous, but nonCA, seamstresses among our readership---if there is an interest.

I think that would be interesting.

I am not a seamstress, I am a man, and my wife isn't interested in wearing a cape dress. But it's surprisingly hard to find plans or patterns for a cape dress on the Internet, and I imagine you might interest a few seamstresses. I think cape dresses are both attractive and modest.

[Bootstrap]

Just a comment not a criticism.

It's hard to comment negatively on what women wear without it feeling like a fairly personal negative criticism.

At any rate, can this thread be about what a cape dress is, and not how anybody feels about people wearing them?

[Josh]

Thanks for your comments, Boot, and mercysfree, I think discussing and explaining how to make clothes would be very appropriate and appreciated on this forum.

I used to be part of a church that mandated cape dresses. Later I went to a Beachy mission that dropped that requirement. Now I am part of a church that has never had cape dresses, going all the way back to the Flemish Anabaptists, who were known for their “fancy dress”.

However, the Anabaptist ideals of simplicity, economy, thrift, and hard work - coupled with the ideal that the best occupations for man are those that produce “food, rainment, and shelter” - means that producing our own clothes remains very close to the Anabaptist heart. In the less conservative groups such as my own, we still produce our own women’s clothes, but lost the skill and knowledge of how to make man’s clothes about two or three generations ago.

Christianity as a whole needs to reevaluate clothing. Most textiles and mass produced clothes are made with heavy environmental impact, ranging from pesticide overuse on cotton fields to micro plastic pollution, to waste of fossil fuels engaging in global trade to move clothes all around the globe, to garments designed to wear out quickly to promote more sales, to (worst of all) garment factories that run with slave labour.

In America this is particularly acute. Cotton used to be grown with slave labour. Later, immigrants were locked in garment factories, where they burned to death when the factory caught fire (the Shirtwaist incident). And now, we simply use slaves overseas: out of sight, out of mine.

The Christian ought to concern himself with how to make clothes without slavery or harm to God’s earth for himself and his neighbour.

[MaxPC]

Thanks for your comments, Boot, and mercysfree, I think discussing and explaining how to make clothes would be very appropriate and appreciated on this forum.

I used to be part of a church that mandated cape dresses. Later I went to a Beachy mission that dropped that requirement. Now I am part of a church that has never had cape dresses, going all the way back to the Flemish Anabaptists, who were known for their “fancy dress”.

However, the Anabaptist ideals of simplicity, economy, thrift, and hard work - coupled with the ideal that the best occupations for man are those that produce “food, rainment, and shelter” - means that producing our own clothes remains very close to the Anabaptist heart. In the less conservative groups such as my own, we still produce our own women’s clothes, but lost the skill and knowledge of how to make man’s clothes about two or three generations ago.

Christianity as a whole needs to reevaluate clothing. Most textiles and mass produced clothes are made with heavy environmental impact, ranging from pesticide overuse on cotton fields to micro plastic pollution, to waste of fossil fuels engaging in global trade to move clothes all around the globe, to garments designed to wear out quickly to promote more sales, to (worst of all) garment factories that run with slave labour.

In America this is particularly acute. Cotton used to be grown with slave labour. Later, immigrants were locked in garment factories, where they burned to death when the factory caught fire (the Shirtwaist incident). And now, we simply use slaves overseas: out of sight, out of mine.

The Christian ought to concern himself with how to make clothes without slavery or harm to God’s earth for himself and his neighbour.

Excellent points, Josh. Spot on says my wife who makes her own.

On a side note, I came to this thread not knowing what to expect. I rarely remember what color I am wearing. Initially I thought: Cape of Good Hope? Cape Horn? Cape Cod? Cape Leeuwin?

[Ken]

Thanks for your comments, Boot, and mercysfree, I think discussing and explaining how to make clothes would be very appropriate and appreciated on this forum.

I used to be part of a church that mandated cape dresses. Later I went to a Beachy mission that dropped that requirement. Now I am part of a church that has never had cape dresses, going all the way back to the Flemish Anabaptists, who were known for their “fancy dress”.

However, the Anabaptist ideals of simplicity, economy, thrift, and hard work - coupled with the ideal that the best occupations for man are those that produce “food, rainment, and shelter” - means that producing our own clothes remains very close to the Anabaptist heart. In the less conservative groups such as my own, we still produce our own women’s clothes, but lost the skill and knowledge of how to make man’s clothes about two or three generations ago.

Christianity as a whole needs to reevaluate clothing. Most textiles and mass produced clothes are made with heavy environmental impact, ranging from pesticide overuse on cotton fields to micro plastic pollution, to waste of fossil fuels engaging in global trade to move clothes all around the globe, to garments designed to wear out quickly to promote more sales, to (worst of all) garment factories that run with slave labour.

In America this is particularly acute. Cotton used to be grown with slave labour. Later, immigrants were locked in garment factories, where they burned to death when the factory caught fire (the Shirtwaist incident). And now, we simply use slaves overseas: out of sight, out of mine.

The Christian ought to concern himself with how to make clothes without slavery or harm to God’s earth for himself and his neighbour.

That sounds very much like Gandhi and his homespun movement in India.

[Josh]

Anabaptists have applied the same principle in other areas - for example, most Anabaptists prefer to create and maintain their own transportation methods, particularly the more conservative groups. (Some even will have their own pathways created suitable for horse and buggy.)

More-liberal groups will be more reliant on trains, hiring drivers, riding buses and so on. Even more worldly groups will have their own cars and take public airplanes. The most worldly / wealthy will even buy their own airplanes and feel comfortable using private aircraft.

[Neto]

Anabaptists have applied the same principle in other areas - for example, most Anabaptists prefer to create and maintain their own transportation methods, particularly the more conservative groups. (Some even will have their own pathways created suitable for horse and buggy.)

More-liberal groups will be more reliant on trains, hiring drivers, riding buses and so on. Even more worldly groups will have their own cars and take public airplanes. The most worldly / wealthy will even buy their own airplanes and feel comfortable using private aircraft.

The Dutch Mennonites in the colonies in "New Russia" / "South Russia" (now Ukraine) built their own farm equipment, designed and built engines, tractors, and possibly even automobiles and some private individuals built their own airplanes in the latter years. I'd like to build my own car someday, as some men still do, even today. (But I'd use parts from other vehicles or after-market assemblies to do it. It's not as complicated as most people would think.)

Speaking of textiles, however, there would certainly be a market, although not a huge one, for custom order broad cloth, especially mohair upholstery in colors & designs consistent with that used in automobiles in the 40's and 50's. (Currently, nothing like this is available anywhere.) I would suspect that mills for weaving standard cloth would also be capable of doing these other types of cloth as well.